how lovely would it be if I could live in my fantasy?
by The Cinder Crown
Summary: Collection of Fairytale!AUs / 1st The Rose behind the thorns, #2. The little Mermaid in the lake
1. Chapter 1

_Written for Mary as part of the monthly one-shot exchange. I hope you like it!_

* * *

 **#13.** FairyTale **[The Random and Crazy Competition]**

# **Magical Water Plants of the Highland Lochs by Hadrian Whittle** _ **-**_ (location) Black Lake **[The Collectables Challenge]**

 **Dame#13.** Tradition **[Royalty Competition]**

 **#C11.** Write a story based on a Disney film **[Scavenger Hunt]**

 **#2.** Apollo - Write about something related to divination **[Greek Mythology Competition]**

 **#510.** Hope **[If you dare Challenge]**

 **Words:** 3,050

* * *

 _The Rose behind the Thorns_

* * *

 ** _Black Lake, almost 16 years ago…_**

Once upon a time, the wind blew softly in the starry night and the sound of the waves could be heard in the darkness, only the flickering lights of the circle of candles that reflected on the surface of the black lake enlightened their surroundings.

"Alright, does everyone know when it's his turn?" Ginny Potter asked and looked at the other eleven women that were standing at the edge of the lake in a circle around her sister in law and newborn niece. "Remember, it is tradition to start with the youngest witch and end with the eldest, otherwise the ritual won't a success. That would be Astoria, Luna, myself, Hannah, Katie, Angelina, Audrey, Fleur, Mrs. Granger, Mum, Madam Pompfrey and Professor McGonagall."

Hermione, with little Rose on her arm, smiled when she saw her family and friends standing around her, ready to take part in gifting her daughter with the most important virtues of life. She had found out about the Ceremony in an old and dusty book, and was delighted that she had found twelve witches to participate in it.

"Wonderful," Ginny continued, "Luna you may start. Leave your position in the circle, and hold your hands over little Rose. Everyone else will do the same."

Everyone nodded silently and Luna stepped forward.

"With the power of the witches one, I will bless you with the gift of _Honesty_. Use it well little Rose," she said in her dreamy voice and her hands started to glow in a light silver. When it faded, she stepped back and the next woman took her place.

"With the power of the witches two, I will bless you with the gift of _Happiness_. Use it well little Rose," Astoria Malfoy whispered with a bright smile on her face.

"With the power of the witches three, I will bless you with the gift of _Courage_. Use it well, little Rose," Ginny said gently.

"With the power of the witches four, I will bless you with the gift of _Selflessness_. Use it well, little Rose," Hannah Longbottom spoke to the small girl.

"With the power of the witches five, I will bless you with the gift of _Compassion_. Use it well, little Rose," Katie Bell whispered.

"With the power of the witches six, I will bless you with the gift of _Forgiveness_. Use it well, little Rose," Angelina Weasley said, with small tears shining in her eyes.

"With the power of the witches seven, I will bless you with the gift of _Sympathy_. Use it well, little Rose," Audrey Weasley told the little girl.

"Wiz zee power of zee witches eight, I will bless you wiz zee gift of _Beauty_. Uze it well, petite Rose," Fleur Weasley whispered in her French accent.

"With the power of the women nine, I will bless you with the gift of _Love_. Use it well, my little Rose." Jean Granger spoke in amazement.

"With the power of the witches ten, I will bless you with the gift of _Kindness._ Use it well, little Rose." Molly Weasley said and a tear rolled down her cheek.

"With the power of the witches eleven, I will bless you with the gift of _Health._ Use it well, little Rose," the medi-witch Poppy Pompfrey whispered.

However, before the eldest witch in the circle could step forward, someone stepped on a branch, causing everyone to look up. A figure with a dusty and heavy cloak walked towards them, on her nose where big round glasses, which caused her eyes to look twice as big as usual.

"My dears! I have foreseen that you are holding a witches ritual! And of course I am more than willing to contribute something to the litte – "

She was interrupted by Professor McGonagalls groan. "Sybill, we appreciate your thoughts, but the ceremony has already started. I am surprised you haven't seen that in this crystal ball of yours…"

Sybill Trelawney looked around, from one witch to the other. Then she clapped her hands over her mouth; her eyes grew – if possible – even wider than before.

"Holy Merlin," she exclaimed dramatically, "You are already twelve – "

"Actually," Hermione stated with one eyebrow raised and little Rose still on her arm, "We are 14, including Rose and myse –"

"No, No, No," the divination Professor screamed, "You're mother and child. That doesn't count. The number of the witches that offer up a gift is important. And me coming here makes it thirteen!"

Fleur, Angelina, Hannah, Katie and Audrey glanced at each other, obviously confused. Madam Pompfrey and Molly both sighed deeply and Luna's expression was a little troubled. Astoria, Ginny, Minerva and Hermione herself just rolled their eyes.

"I am glad to see you are still able to count, Sybill," the Hogwarts Headmistress said impatiently, "But if you'd be so kind to let us continue – "

"You don't understand, Minerva," the seer said vehemently and walked closer towards Hermione and Rose. When she spoke again, her voice sounded deep, strange and rusty:

" _Thirteen 'stead of twelfe have stayed,_

 _So a price needs to be payed_

' _Cause it's againt the ritual's deal_

 _Fifteen years on from this time_

 _Pricking her finger at the spinning wheel_

 _The girl will die before the bell's last chime."_

Every woman at the lake was staring at the clumsy divination Professor, who had started to cough and clear her throat. Hermione clutched her daughter closer to her chest in a protective gesture.

"Huh, has something happened?" Trelawney asked confused, her voice back to normal again.

Ginny was the first to break the stunned silence. "Erm, no, everything's alright," she said, walked towards her and escorted the woman back to the trail that lead back to the castle. "You look a little tired, though. Maybe you should get some sleep. It's already quite late after all…"

The red haired witch didn't wait for an answer, just gently grabbed her with a sigh, apparated away and appeared a second later alone again.

"'onestly, 'er predicaments are complezely 'orrible," Fleur said in her French accent and rolled her eyes. The other women nodded in agreement. Well, all except one that is.

"You don't really believe this, Minerva, do you?" Madam Pompfrey asked, with her eyebrows raised, upon seeing the elder witch's thoughtful expression. "You of all people?"

"I do _not_ believe in such nonsense like divination," the Headmistress ensured, though she had a troubled look in her eyes. "But I am sad to say that there is some truth in her words."

"There is?" Jean Granger whispered, fear clearly written over her face as she put an arm around her daughter and grandchild.

The other girls looked at the emerald-eyed witch expectantly.

"This ceremony is one of the oldest known to the wizarding world. Ancient magic can be dangerous, that's why it isn't used very often," the elderly witch explained sadly.

Hermione stared at her former mentor in shock. "Does this mean my baby girl is really going to die?"

All eyes were on the Headmistress now. "No, she won't die," she said after a moment of consideration. She took a step forward towards Hermione and carefully held both her hands over the sleeping child. "My gift for you should have been wisdom. But with the power of the witches twelve, I will give you hope. Use it well, little Rose."

Instead of the previous eleven silvery glows, this time a bright golden light started to shine.

"Don't worry, your little girl won't die. But keep in mind that there is still a small chance that something might be happening… She has it in her blood to get in trouble after all."

"And besides," Ginny added laughing, "How big is the chance that she'll ever stumble across the spindle of a spinning wheel?"

* * *

 ** _Gates of Hogwarts, Present Day..._**

Scorpius arrived in a swirl of dust, and when his feet touched the soft green grass on the Hogwarts grounds, the first thing he did was take a deep breath in order to keep his stomach in control. After some seconds, he slowly turned around to look at his father, who had a small smirk on his face.

"I doubt I will ever get used to apparation, dad," the young Slytherin complained. "But still, thanks for taking me to see grandma on her birthday. I know that's usually not a good enough reason to skip two days of school."

His father just shook his head and patted his son briefly on the shoulder. "Well, it _was_ an important family meeting after all. You might skip the part with the huge amount of cake and sweets, though… But do me the favour and repeat all the things you've missed in class."

"Sure, dad," Scorpius said grinning, and almost a little too enthusiastic

With that, Lord Malfoy gave his son one last nod, turned around and was gone within the next second.

The young Slytherin sighed. He wasn't really in the mood for school, and it was still quite some time until Christmas Break but well… He finally lifted his school bag over his shoulder and touched the gate to gain entrance to the school.

But nothing happened. Confused, he reached out a second time, but nothing changed.

"Are you kidding me?" He whispered to himself and took out his wand out of the pocket of his robe. "Alohomora."

Even on the next attempt, the doors wouldn't open. Frustrated, Scorpius put his wand back in its place and simply climbed over the gate. It was easier said than done, but in the end he managed to land safely on the other side. _Probably another one of James' jokes…_ he mused.

Hequickly glanced at his watch. _Oh well, I better hurry, or I will be late for lunch!_ He thought and continued walking a little faster.

During his little journey he had a weird feeling, though Scop couldn't quite explain why. But his suspicion was confirmed once he opened the doors to the Great Hall.

He couldn't quite believe what he saw in front of him, so shook his head, closed his eyes for a moment and opened them again, but the scene hadn't changed. Even though not all the classed had finished yet, he had never seen the Hall so quiet. Scorp was sure that one could even hear a single needle drop to the floor.

The reason for this rather unexpected silence was even more bizarre. Everyone, every single student and teacher in the Great Hall, was sound asleep. Some on the tables, other's on chairs and floors, some very unfortunate students even had their faces in the bowls of tomato soup in front of them.

Scorpius quickly made his way over to the nearest student on the Slytherin table. He patted her on the shoulder, screamed at her, shook her, and when he ran out of ideas he even softly nudged his elbow into her ribs. Nothing.

He tried it again on some of the other students, but no matter what he tried, they wouldn't wake up from their slumber.

 _What in the name of Merlin has happened here? I've been gone for barely two days!_

For some minutes he sat down on one of the benches, then he decided to just walk towards the Headmistress' office. Maybe she knew what was going on here.

When he walked out of the Hall again – careful not to step onto the sleeping boys and girls on the foor – Scorpius followed his instincts and stopped by at the Hogwarts kitchen. His suspicion was confirmed once more, when he saw all the House Elves sleeping in it.

Shaking his head in confusion, Scorpius continued his walk and turned left. There, right at the end of the corridor in front of where the muggle studies classroom was supposed to be, stood a gigantic hedge of thorns.

For a moment, Scorp just stared at the huge amount of green in front of him; overwhelmed from the sight that had greeted him. Then he took a few steps forward to get a better look at the monstrosity. _Whatever has caused everyone in the castle to fall asleep, it must have happened in this classroom,_ he supposed and titled his head to the left, and then to the right.

But no matter the perspective, the young Slytherin knew that the hedge was too thick to pass through it without any sort of magic.

So again, he took out his wand and screamed the first spell that came to his mind. "Bombarda!"

To his utter astonishment, absolutely nothing happened. Not even the leaves caught on fire. Just nothing.

Not believing his eyes, he muttered one spell after the other, silently trying to remember the spells that his secret crush, the stunningly beautiful Rose Weasley, had explained more than once in class.

After what felt like the tenth spell, he sat down on the floor in front of the hedge and looked at it frustrated. When he was about to give up, a sudden thought hit him like a ton of bricks.

 _Muggle Studies, of course! It's probably something that can only be undone with something non-magical!_

Jumping to his feet, he enthusiastically grabbed a pen from his bag and pointed his wand at it. A bright smile appeared on his face when he admired the large, silvery-green sword in his hands.

He stepped closer to the hedge and with one last breath he swung the sword, right through the thorns.

 _It is working!_ Scorpius though proudly, and one step after another, he made his way through the hedge until he reached the door to the Classroom.

The young Malfoy opened it and carefully stepped inside. As he had expected, everyone – including Albus - was sound asleep. He looked at the front and upon seeing the big spinning wheel, he remembered that their Professor had said something about getting to know muggle working methods of a time long ago.

Since he was – despite his pureblood heritage – quite interested in all kind of muggle things, he took a step closer to the spinning wheel.

He dropped his sword on the ground and was about to give it a swing, when he saw the form of Rose' body lying next to it. On her finger he spotted some traces of fresh blood, so he bent down immediately.

After a quick inner debate, he softly picked her up, laid her on the desk and gently brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face.

For a short moment he took the time to admire her beauty. Her long eyelashes, the colour of her hair, but the thing that mesmerized him the most were her lips.

Since he had first seen the girl on Platform 9 ¾ he had dreamed about kissing her lips with his own. He knew that her father wasn't really a fan of the Malfoy family, though he had never really found the courage to tell her about his feelings. He knew that she loved her family more than anything in the world and he didn't want to be the reason to cause a fight between them.

Scorpius didn't know for how long he had been staring at the girl, when a suddenly a thought came to his mind and he started grinning like an idiot.

 _Maybe dreams do come true after all… and she's asleep so she'll never know… more importantly she won't be able to hex me into next week…_

Slowly, almost in slow motion he bent down and cradled her head in his hands. He brought his face closer to hers and softly brushed his lips against hers.

Suddenly, Rose' eyes fluttered open and she stared at him.

Scorp's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately pulled away, when – to his own surprise – Rose lifted her arms, put the around his neck and deepened the kiss.

After the first moments of shock, Scorpius realized that Rose – the most beautiful girl in Hogwarts – kissed _him._

Grinning into the kiss, he put his own arms behind the small of her back and lifted her carefully so she could lean her body against his.

When the need for air finally got too great, they slowly broke the kiss.

"Wow, that was…" Rose began still a little out of breath and blushing a bright crimson.

"Yeah…" Scorpius replied sheepishly.

For some reason, he was still sitting on the desk, and Rose on his lap with his arms still around her body.

When he heard some of the other students moan slightly, Scorpius turned his head and saw that the first ones started to wake up again. He glanced towards the door and noticed that the hedge of thorns also began to shrink.

A little confused, he turned to face the girl on his lap.

"Do you know why everyone in the whole castle has been asleep?"

Now it was Rose' turn to look a little sheepishly. "Well, actually I'm not quite sure… The Professor was asking for a volunteer to try out the Spinning Wheel, so I sat down and somehow I must have pricked my finger on the spindle there."

She pointed towards it and Scorpius could see the small amount of blood that was still on the spindle.

"A bright golden light started to glow and one after another we fell asleep," the girl continued, "I have no idea why though."

Scorpius chuckled a little when he saw her now also slightly confused expression.

After a moment of consideration, he took her small hand in his slightly bigger one and looked her directly in the eyes.

"Rose, would you care for a little walk by the black lake with me?" Scorpius asked softly, "I – I care a lot about you and I would prefer talking to you in private instead of having all these guys in here listen to what I want to say and – "

He was stopped by Rose' finger on his lips. "I would love to take a walk with you, Scorpius," she said smiling, "And just so you know, I do care a lot about you, too."

Scorpius beamed at her, hopped of the desk and extended his hand to her. _Maybe he still had the chance to get his happily ever after..._

"Well, then, Sleeping Beauty, let' go for a walk."


	2. The little mermaid in the lake

**Writen for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (challenges and assignments): Charms Assignment 9: Write a mermaid!AU**

 **Written for the Scavenger Hunt #D.24. Write a mermaid!AU [Scavenger Hunt]**

 **Written for the Mythology competition Mortals #9. Atalana – Write about Ginny Weasley [Mythology Competition]**

 **Pairing: HarryGinny**

Words: 2,254

* * *

 **The little Mermaid in the lake**

* * *

"Well, what does the bloody note say?"

Ginny sighed and handed the little note she had just received via owl to Ron. "Harry and Mum won't make it in time. We should already get in a boat. They will come after us. We are way too early anyways."

The red head could hear several groans form her family and friends. She did understand them. They were all currently standing at the edge of the black lake and waiting to get into one of the over-dimensional big magical boat, that would take them to Hogwarts. They all had spent the last couple of month rebuilding the castle and now Hogwarts was shining in its new beauty. To celebrate this occasion, Headmistress McGonagall and the Minister of magic had decided to throw a ball in honor of Hogwarts and all the people that have fought in the final battle – including all their families and friends.

Stepping into the boat, Ginny smiled as she recalled the memory of Professor McGonagall visiting Harry at the Burrow and asking him to dance once more at the opening dance. His face had been priceless, but since the Headmistress had looked at him with big, almost pleading emerald eyes, he agreed. However, only under the condition that Ginny would dance with him. And the red head was only too happy to agree.

And now here she was; in a huge boat (the one's for the first years just wouln't do for so many people) with her father, Bill, Charlie, Percy, George, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Fleur, and Cho Chang, who hadn't even bothered asking whether or not she was welcome on 'The Weasley', as Ginny called the boat in her head.

 _Don't get your hopes up too high, Cho,_ Ginny thought smiling, _Harry won't be dancing with you tonight._

Headshaking, the red-haired witch turned her head and looked around. She spotted George showing Ron a small viol with a blue shining liquid filled in it. And she watched horrified as - could it have been any different? - Ron being Ron, tried to grab the thing out of his bother's hand to get a better look at it. But naturally, he dropped it to the floor instead.

Cursing, George quickly bent down on his knees and examined the damage. Then he jumped up.

"Sorry guy, I fear that due to our clumsy brother here, we won't be reaching Hogwarts any time soon. Everything will be alright, and please don't be scared about the following little explosion… nothing is going to – "

Whoosh.

The power of the little explosion caused them all to fall of the boat right into the black lake. Ginny couldn't see anything because there were only bubbles in front of her eyes. Her heart skipped a beat when she felt something tying her legs together, and she tried with all her might to hold her breath.

Slowly the bubbles started to vanish but she still couldn't really tell the difference between top and bottom of the lake.

"Hey, would you mind getting off me, whoever you are…" she heard the voice of her father followed by a "I do apologizzze Arrrthur" in a soft French accent.

"Dad, Fleur, where are you?" Ginny screamed back. Then she clapped her hands over her mouth as she realized that she was still underwater. _How the hell can I speak and breath down here?_ She thought confused, but since the bubbles slowly started to clear, she was able to see the rather hilarious scene in front of her and was happy to be able to laugh.

"Dad! I have a tail!" Bill, Percy and Charlie said at the same time, followed by Hermione, Fleur and Luna's voices: "So do we!"

And it was true. Ginny first looked down herself to see that she too had a red-shimmering fish-tail. Hermione's was dark green, Fleur's blue and Luna's orange.

"Bloody hell, we're mermaids!" Ginny said grinning from ear to ear, after all she had always liked the creatures.

"And we are mermen or what?" Bill asked one eyebrow raised and pointed to his father's brown, Percy's yellow, Charlie's purple and his own black fish-tail.

"Apparently," Hermione laughed, "What in Merlin's name was in that viol, George?"

First there was no answer, and no one even saw George and Ron. Then, a little yellow doctor fish with blue stripes came into view. He had a little red crab attached to one of his fins.

"Don't you dare complain about being a merman, Bill! I'm a bloody yellow fish!" Ron spoke and upon seeing Hermione in her blue outfit, his mouth opened and little bubbles came out.

Ignoring his brother, the little crab started to speak. "Hell, this was an old recipe from Fred! I didn't know what it was supposed to do, but since he called it 'The Ariel' I probably should have known…"

Ginny couldn't hold it together anymore and burst into laughter.

"Well… maybe some of the merpeople here can help us with this situation…" Arthur suggested, still eyeing his fishtail suspiciously.

"Sounds good, King Trition, erm I mean Mr. Weasley," Luna replied blushing, followed by Hermione's "It's probably for the best if we divide ourselves into groups of three or four. We'll meet back here in about an hour, alright?"

Everyone nodded. Arthur, Percy and Luna formed the first group and they started diving even deeper down the lake. The other group consisting of Hermione, Fleur and Bill decided to stay on this water level. Ginny sighed when she saw that the only ones left were Ron and George, though for a brief moment she wondered where Cho was. _She's probably totally freaked out about having a fish-tail,_ Ginny mused grinning.

Together, they made their way back to the surface and to the edge of the lake.

"Bloody hell, there are Mum and Harry," Ron exclaimed and Ginny looked up to see that he was right. There, right above them, at the castle entrance stood her boyfriend taking to her mother. She couldn't quite make out what they were saying apart from Harry's rather frightened, "…ly Molly, I'm gonna drown in there if Ginny doesn't help safe me with this whole dancing stuff…"

Ginny's heart skipped a beat. She had totally forgotten about the dance!

"Relax, little mermaid," George said smiling as if he had read her mind and tried to get a better position on his brother's yellow fish head. "We'll get out of here in time."

"We better," Ron said frightened, "I really don't want to spend the rest of my life as a bloody yellow fish with blue strips."

Laughing at her brother's, Ginny grabbed crab-George so Ron could swim faster. Together they made their way back to their meeting point.

Apparently, the others were still away, so Ginny positioned herself on a small rock, both George and Ron on her lap now.

Suddenly, something came out of the shadows. It gave the red-haired mermaid a fright and she instinctively moved her red tail, which caused her brother's to fall off.

"Show yourself," she shouted and waited for something to move.

"Calm down, Ginny, it's only me," sounded Cho's voice through the water.

However, when she came out from her spot behind the rocks, Ginny's and both Ron and George's eyes went wide.

"Holly Merlin," George exclaimed laughing, "you look like the evil sea-witch Ursula herself!"

He gestured towards her long and slimy eight arms the best way he could in his current form.

Cho rolled her eyes. "I think you're in no position to speak, crab," she hissed, "but contrary to you people, I haven't left my wand on the boat."

And indeed, she held up her wand for everyone to see. "I tried to reverse the damage of that potion of yours, but so far I only managed to get rid of some of my arms."

"And you still have so many?" Ron asked wide eyed and immediately clapped his fins over his mouth upon seeing the sea-witches angry face.

Ginny tried very hard not to laugh at her brother's response and instead focused on Cho. "Cho, the ball starts soon, and I need to tell Harry what happened," she said and slightly winced at her next words. "I need your help. Maybe it works that you can transfigure back my legs!"

"Gin, I don't think that's a good idea," the little yellow fish said carefully.

But the red-haired witch ignored him and was so excited that she didn't see the evil grin that flashed over Cho's face.

"Well, why not? Let's try this," she said and waved her wand.

At first, nothing happened. Then Ginny started to glow in a soft red shimmer and when she looked down at herself, she saw that her tail was slowly changing back into her legs.

Happily, Ginny looked at Cho and opened her mouth. _Thank you._

Ginny's eyes widened. She knew that she had moved her lips, but not a single word has come out. She quickly looked to George. _What's going on?_

Again, nothing happened and she started gesturing towards her throat.

"Gin, calm down," George said, though the worry in his eyes stood in contrast to what he was saying. "Something happened to your voice."

"Or rather someone," Ron added and looked angrily at Cho.

Upon seeing the other girl laugh dryly, Ginny decided that she had rightfully turned in an evil sea-witch.

"Honestly," Cho said after she had calmed herself down a bit and with a wave of her hand she vanished all her additional arms. "You are so easy to be fooled. You could have transfigured yourselves back just using wandless magic. But I couldn't resist the opportunity to get back at you, Gin."

 _What do you want from me you evil sea-witch?!_ Ginny wanted to say, but again only bubbles escaped from her mouth.

Cho laughed again. "I'm going to dance the opening dance with Harry now!"

 _He would never –_

Suddenly, Cho waved her wand again, and thick ropes wrapped around Ginny's body. Then she took her arm and within a second, she had both of them apparated out of the water.

oooooo

Ginny looked around and saw that they were in a small, dark corner in the entrance hall in front of the Great Hall.

"Now be a nice girl and wait here, so I can get Harry back," this said, she cast the body-binding spell, so Ginny wasn't even able to move anymore and then threw an old, fuzzy blanket over her.

And right on time, Harry turned around the corner and Ginny cursed herself.

No one would see her sitting in this spot and boiling she watched as Cho softly touched Harry's arm.

"I'm so sorry, Harry," she said in a faked sad voice, "Ginny send me to tell you that she has changed her mind. She won't be coming here tonight."

 _Don't listen to her, Harry! I'm right here!_ Ginny got more and more frustrated about her inability to speak.

"Erm, Cho, I'm sure you must have misunderstood something here – " Harry started and Ginny felt her heart beating faster.

Cho sighed theatralically. "Harry. Ginny specifically asked _me_ to dance the first dance with you."

Harry looked confused. "Honestly, I doubt – "

"Don't believe a single word she's told you Harry!"

Ginny turned her head and saw her family running their way. _Georgie, I was never so happy to see your – crabby red? – face!_ The red haired witch thought relieved.

"George! Ron, Arthur!" Harry exclaimed and looked from all the Weasleys, to Luna and Fleur and back to Cho. "What the hell is going on? And where is Ginny?"

The red haired witch felt that the body-binding spell was losing its power so she started to move around.

"T'ere s'e iz!" Fleur exclaimed and pointed to the blanket in the dark corner. Harry immediately ran toward her, tossed the blankets way and freed her from the robes.

 _Thank you, Harry!_ Ginny mouthed wordlessly and the black haired man looked at her confused.

"Cho stole her voice so you would go to the ball with her instead of Ginny," Arthur said and sent Cho a disapproving look. "George told us all about it after we had transfigured ourselves back."

Harry glared at Cho and turned his attention back to his girlfriend. "We'll figure something out, Gin. I promise," he said, encircled her waist with his hand and pulled her in for a soft kiss.

Suddenly Ginny started to glow again. This time however, it was a shining gold.

"What in Merlin's name…" Ginny cursed aloud. Apon realizing that she had her voice back, she happily threw her arms around Harry and whispered into his ear.

"Thank you."

"I' don't know how I did it, but you are welcome, love."

Suddenly Hermione spoke up. "That's it, Harry!" She exclaimed.

"That is what, Hermione?" Harry asked his long-time friend, still holding Ginny in his arms.

"You broke the spell," she explained smiling, "with true loves kiss! It's the most powerful magic of all."

Harry smiled, whispered a "Now would you mind telling me what you were up to earlier? Especially why Ron's hair is yellow with blue stripes…" and pulled Ginny even closer and together they walked into the Great Hall.

Ron blushed a bright crimson and everyone burst into laughter.

George, who was walking behind them only said, "You know, despite everything, we should do this again some time… I kind of liked you as the little mermaid in the lake."


End file.
